Roses and Thorns
by Blue Mistfall
Summary: What if the first meeting of Rose and the Doctor happened earlier than we expected? Much much earlier for both of them.


When somebody gets into trouble, it often seems that anyone can get injured or lose something - or someone - important, and that it can never happen to you. Like when you watch news where there's a lot of disasters' (natural or society-created) descriptions or tales about disabled people... it can occur to you that you will never get into a situation like this. And in reality it happens very quickly and unexpectedly.  
Like it happened today. It was already evening, and the main disaster had already passed. Who could have thought that all of a sudden the trade center would be on fire! Mummy always said that too many wires and plastic were no good, thought the little blond-haired girl who appeared to be alone on the upper, almost not ruined, floor. She had run there while escaping from the panicked crowd, and now the way down was blocked, so she couldn't leave the place. Down there almost everything was black and burnt, and even here it smelled with smoke and burnt plastic.  
And what if there's another way on the other side of the building? There are loads of stairs and escalators in shopping centers. The girl, feeling a twinge of fear in her four-year-old heart, started her way there. She wanted to get to Mummy as quickly as possible and leave this place for good.  
She was walking on forever, all alone, among the urgently abandoned shops. For a brief moment it seemed to her that the dummies would come to life and chase her, but in a second she collected herself. Dummies are merely dummies, and they come to life only in scary stories. And this was the real life...  
Something smooth touched her shoulder. Something... alive!  
"Eeeeeee!" The girl's heart bounced to her throat - for a second it seemed to her that one of the dummies had really come to life. But then she saw it wasn't a dummy, it was a man of flesh and blood. Or not a man, he was more like a big boy. Very strangely dressed big boy - there was an oversized black turtleneck sweater and something like a red checkered skirt with folds on him. That was funny: a boy in a skirt!  
"Hush, don't be afraid", the big boy whispered, crouching in front of her. "My name is Jamie, Jamie McCrimmon. What's yours?"  
He seemed to be kind, but Mummy used to say that she shouldn't talk to strangers. But what could be done?  
"Rose", the girl replied in a very small voice. "Rose Tyler".  
"How did you happen to get here, Rose? I thought my checking would be useless... but I still found you here".  
"Was scared", Rose explained. "Big people ran from fire, and I was scared".  
"Aye, the Doctor said something about setting the place on fire..." Jamie mused. "He suspects it wasn't done by human hand but by some beasties... Come along, let's search for the exit".  
"How did you enter?" Rose asked.  
"Climbed onto the fire ladder. I'm not to be noticed here... There should be stairs to get you down to your Mummy. Did you search?"  
"I did, but here there are no stairs here, they broken", Rose said, pointing at the stairs nearby which were no good to walk them down now.  
"Ah. Come on, I'll get you out of here".  
Rose shook her head.  
"Mummy said I not supposed to talk to strangers", she mumbled.  
"But I'm not a stranger". Jamie frowned a bit. "You're Rose, and I'm Jamie. That's it". He reached his hand out and Rose took it after a moment's hesitation - her tiny palm vanished in Jamie's one, huge and rough-skinned, but surprisingly gentle. But after several seconds of walking it became clear that Rose wasn't able to cover Jamie's long steps as quickly as him, and besides she was nervous and already tired, like any lost child, so he scooped her up.  
The rows of shops were an invitating place when full of lights and people, but now, when dark and empty, it was uncomfortable and creepy here. It wasn't cold, but something freezing slowly filled the girl, making her at first give out some quiet sniffs and then sobs. Jamie's hand quickly flew to the back of her head, caressing it clumsily, but heartfully. He was full of some kind of warmth, weird warmth which couldn't be felt outside - Rose felt the same when she was with her Mummy. If this strange big boy had it, then she could trust him.

Those humans were so funny in the well-known sense. They pretended so much to seem better than they were... These clothes and make-up and all were nothing for a Huferian like Shann, but they were still annoying her. Sometimes she had to concentrate too long to see the soul flower of a certain too hypocritical human.  
Damned Quadder, one of the Pure-Soul movement leaders! It had been him who had set the shopping center on fire because he had considered there had been too much "rotten roots" there. Damned fanatics! Shann knew that ones who carried fine flowers in their souls also could be there... but Quadder was blind when it was about the presence of just one or two "rotten roots".  
What's that? Something was moving on the half-destroyed shopping center's wall. Shann hurried there (having made gossip girls behind the corner shocked with her appearance - she wasn't wearing any make-up and was dressed as simply as possible, in stripy dark green dress) and saw two humans climbing down the outside fire ladder - the older one was carrying a little girl who clung to him, holding on the ladder with his free hand. Shann squinted, changing the settings of her sight, opened her eyes again and this time saw two plants instead of humans. Those were rose and thistles, and thorny leaves of the last one were covering the flower, not hurting it. The rose itself wasn't in bloom yet, just slightly opened, as every human child's soul flower.  
"Ah, there you are, Jamie! What kept you?"  
The voice brought Shann out of this state (hearing the voice was the best way to get out of it), and she saw one more human approaching to the youngster and the girl who already made their way down and were on the ground. Let's see... That's interesting. The newcomer had two soul flowers – crimson-and-orange immortelle and bluebell entangling it. Shann had never seen anything like it. It seemed like two different plants grew from the same root.  
"Ah, I see, I see", the newcomer said, and Shann saw his physical image - he was short, with a mop of dark hardly ever combed hair and dressed in clothes that were too large and a tiny bit too short at the same time. She thought this man could be father of this "thistle boy". "You're not hurt, thank goodness".  
The little girl peeked at the older man, still clinging to the younger one.  
"Who you?" she asked humbly.  
"I'm the Doctor. I'm Jamie's friend. What were you doing up there?"  
"Lost Mummy", Rose replied, her voice almost not heard.  
"I've found her upstairs. Everything seems to be unharmed up there, only the bottom floors are burnt", Jamie explained. "What's that? You have a face if someone… someone not from here had done it".  
"I suspected that, Jamie. But first let's bring her home".  
"How? We don't know her address, and…"  
"We will".  
Shann changed her vision again and saw one more of strangest things – the soul flowers of that Doctor man bloomed right in front of her. She could see that strange process like in a video set on faster mode, and just for a mere second both soul flowers glittered with strange blue shine. What could that possibly be?

Jamie lowered Rose down onto the pavement, and the Doctor sat onto the shop step in front of her, beaming kindly. Maybe he was Jamie's dad? They were so very alike, outside and… and inside – here there also was that warmth.  
"Come closer, my sweet", Doctor asked. "I'm going to learn something about you. Do you know where you live?"  
Rose blushed – she still didn't.  
"I just knew it. Little kids are worried with other things… No, no, no, don't you be scared. Cross my hearts, I won't hurt you in any way".  
The Doctor's fingertips brushed Rose's cheekbones, and his face became concentrated, eyes closed and brows frowned, a little. Swiftly images began dancing in the small girl's head – Mummy talking to her friend by the phone, old photo albums, games with friends… one of the images kept longer – it was home. The yard Rose knew so very well, those stairs (she didn't like going up them at all), that door which led home…  
"Good as gold. That's what's precious", the Doctor muttered, his light blue eyes open now. "It wasn't painful, was it?" Rose shook her head, wide-eyed. What was that? At first she had been lost alone, and now… it was so very weird… "Now don't be scared. Just look into my eyes and believe me".

Shann was determined to learn what was going on – this strange blooming and glittering of the Doctor's soul flower repeated once again. Oh gosh! Why can't usual vision be combined with the additional one so she could see the processes as they are in both versions?.. When they all (it revealed that Rose was asleep, and Jamie was carrying her) entered the block of flats, Shann took the elevator and, orienting by their step sounds, found a place a floor above where everything was seen and heard.  
Hardly had the Doctor rang the doorbell when the door flew open, and a red-faced with being nervous blonde in the beginning of her thirties looked out of it. Shann changed the sight settings – oh gosh, what an agrimony she was! But such people are very attached to what they like, and that's their best trait. She had obviously just called someone – there was a phone receiver clutched in her hand.  
"Well… hello", the Doctor began, gesturing Jamie to stay behind the door, invisible to the blonde. "I'm here because of…"  
"One more promoter or something? Oh gods!" the blonde shrieked. "You always come when you're not needed!"  
"Sorry, ma'am, but if I say the name Rose will it tell anything to you?"  
That was a total checkmate. The blonde stared at him, her mouth half-opened.  
"Rose?" she parroted back to him.  
"Rose", the Doctor nodded.  
"You mean – my Rose?"  
"Yes, I do. Jamie?"  
The youngster went from out of his hiding place, and the blonde gasped upon seeing her dearest child in his arms.  
"What do you want?" she asked, her voice reduced to a whisper. "I'll give anything… just give her back to me!"  
"We don't ask for anything", the Doctor said. "We've found your daughter in the burnt shopping center and decided to bring her back to you".  
Within these words Jamie lost no time in passing Rose's sleeping form to her mother, who snatched her in a mere second and kissed her on the forehead, but then calmed down and asked in pure surprise:  
"But… how? How? Did you spy on us? How did you know she was my daughter? How did you…"  
"Too many questions. Some things had better never be revealed", the Doctor beamed.


End file.
